


a chain of events

by j_gabrielle



Series: perhaps, this [11]
Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Angst, Consort!Erik, Hurt!Erik, M/M, mild description of violence, tw: child kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 19:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13841559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_gabrielle/pseuds/j_gabrielle
Summary: They have him. They finally have Ulysses Klaue.





	1. Chapter 1

They have him. They finally have Ulysses Klaue.

W’kabi stand triumphantly when they make the murderer kneel before the council. T’Challa can see the bloodlust in his eyes, and with a look to Okoye, she can too. 

Mama is holding Shuri’s hand tightly in one and Erik’s in the other. Everyone is gathered here to witness this. Erik had tried to beg off, but when Mama told him that it is important for everyone to be present, he had relented. But not without a look of trouble that has not waned.

Erik had been protectively rubbing circles onto the small bump that is barely visible under the robe he wears. Something has been bothering him since the announcement of Klaue's capture. T’Challa wants to take him into his arms and ask him what is wrong, but this is neither the place nor the time.

Klaue sneers up at him. “So is this where I beg for mercy?”

T’Challa leans back. “You are here to answer to your crimes against the nation of Wakanda. For the murders of the Border tribesmen, for the stealing of our vibranium. Every breath you take, Ulysses Klaue, is mercy from me."

In his peripheral, he sees Mama nodding at him approvingly. "What do you say to the crimes you have been accused of?” 

Klaue’s manic grin grows. He winks, turning to Erik and croons, “Hey baby boy. Guess what? Daddy-O died with your name on his lips.”

And it descends into chaos.

The council exclaims in voices of horror and shock when Erik lunges forth with a cry. “Lies!" Grabbing at a dagger as he falls on Klaue, he screams, “Tell me what you’ve done to him! Tell me!”

Klaue breaks out of his bindings, swinging his remaining arm through the air, scratching down the inside of Erik’s bare arm. He laughs and laughs even as Erik throws his entire body weight on him. Erik gets three punches in before Okoye and Ayo pulls him back, disarming the dagger from him. “What is the meaning of this?” Mama demands when they stand him upright next to Klaue's bloodied and still laughing body on the floor. “Erik!”

“You want to tell them, or shall I do it instead?” Klaue chuckles, spitting out blood. W'Kabi manhandles him to his knees. “I’m sure I can tell it better than you can, pretty boy. All those lives you took for me, all that blood you spilt on my orders. All those Wakandan lives?"

T’Challa stands at this and goes to his Consort. Okoye and Ayo releases him to the King. “My love, please.” He pleads, heart hammering in his throat. 

Erik exhales, blinking rapidly. Pulling his shaking hands from T’Challa's he goes to a kneel at his feet. The whole council is in uproar. Bowing deeply, he says, “I, Erik Stevens, N’Jadaka son of N’Jobu, asks you, King T’Challa son of T’Chaka,” Erik looks back up, choking on the next words, “Please save my father."

 


	2. Chapter 2

They lock him in a glass cage. “This is not right.” Mama says, wringing her hands. Shuri bites her lips uncertainly. “This is not right. Let me go to him. Look at him! Are you even trying to keep him comfortable?”

T’Challa cannot face his mother. “We’re doing the best we can.”

“Have you talked to him?” She asks, stepping forward. T’Challa shakes his head. “Why not? T’Challa, why not?”

“Because I am afraid of what he might say.” He admits softly, turning to her at last, he crumples, “Mama…” Ramonda clucks her tongue and embraces him tightly, pouring comfort into it.

“We said that his past did not matter to us. We promised him that.” Ramonda says, pulling away to wipe away her son’s tears. “There must be a reason for this madness.”

Shuri tugs at his elbow. “Erik’s a good man who loves you. He's carrying your child. Calm yourself. Go in there, brother. Talk to him.”

Ramonda nods, nudging him to the cell where his Consort is on the singular bed, curled up like a child giving comfort to himself. He looks up when the door opens, eyes red-rimmed. T’Challa waits for the door to close before folding his hands behind him. 

“Was any of it real?”

Erik flinches. "I deserve that." He mumbles humourlessly. His hand comes to grip at the front of the long sleeve robe they gave him when they put him in here. T’Challa tamps down on the overwhelming urge to reach out to him and their unborn child. “All of it was real. I’ve never lied to you, T’Challa. Not about us. Not about this.” Erik says earnestly.

“Then, why!” Anger rising in him, T’Challa snarls, hurt seeping through. “Tell me why did that man say you killed for him? What sort of things did you do for him, huh?”

Erik worries the surface of the ring around his finger. He turns his face away from T’Challa. “Many terrible things. All in hopes of keeping my father safe.”

“Your father?”

“Would you believe me even if I told you?”

And that stops T’Challa short. He takes a few long breaths. “Tell me.” He says softly. 

Erik's shoulder slump. His hand rubs absent circles on his belly. “My mom died when I was fourteen. Dad wanted to bring me back to Wakanda after the funeral. We were just outside of Yemen and Dad was planning our route into Ethiopia when Klaue’s men found us. They separated us. Kept me in a room away from Dad. I didn’t see him for _months_ , T’Challa.” 

“And when they finally let me see him, it was just so that I could see him being beaten up. They took his finger in front of me. They told me that they would take off a limb every single time I misbehaved. You asked me once, what my scars meant. They all mean I survived everything they put me through.” T’Challa felt a wave of sick and disgust crashing over him. He turns away to the corner of the cell. 

In his mind’s eye, he can see a younger Erik, scared and terrified for his father, willing to comply just to keep the last of his family safe. He wishes for a way to turn back the clock, to go to that young boy and hold him close and tell him that he is not alone. 

When he looks back over, Erik has his eyes closed, breathing shallowly. Beads of sweat are beginning to form on his brow. “They let me see him one last time, but it was a trap. They found out about me, you see? I became important in the long term plan to control the vibranium in Wakanda. They were waiting for your ascension to reveal me, what our fathers had agreed on. Use me to take control."

"I've never disobeyed my handlers. I did everything they told me to do because the alternative would be my father’s life. I couldn’t risk it. So I obeyed. I took lives, I did what I had to. All for the hope of seeing him again.” He sighs, lashes fluttering over the shadows under his eyes. “Until you.”

“Until me?” T’Challa frowns.

The corners of Erik’s lip twitch as he leans back against the glass wall. “I saw you sitting on your throne that day and I thought, wow. He’s so beautiful. How could he ever love someone like me? You’re like a light, T’Challa. One that made me go against every survival instinct in me.” He finishes in a tired exhale. Erik’s brow furrows, and his throat clicks as he swallows. “And now Dad is probably dead. Because of me.”

T’Challa keeps himself at parade’s rest. “You don’t know that.”

Erik hums. T’Challa waits for an answer, and when one does not come, he turns in time to see Erik’s body slide limply where he sits.

Something was wrong.

“Erik? Erik!” T’Challa rushes to him. Pulling him into his arms, he shakes him. “Hey, Erik!”

The peeking sight of creeping black veins on Erik’s arm has him peel back the sleeve. T’Challa feels his heart sink. The dark web takes up the length of the wound Klaue inflicted.

“I need. I need you to understand. I need...” He hears slurred urgently against his neck. T’Challa leans over, cupping Erik’s cheek. A hand comes to rest on his wrist. “I’ve never loved anyone other than you. I swear to you. It was real."

T’Challa shushes him, frantically calling for help. Mama and Shuri rushes in just as Erik falls unconscious. “Brother, you need to let me take him.” Shuri says, pulling at his death grip on his husband. He startles, protest forming at his mouth but dies a quick death when he recognises the worry in his sister’s face.

Ramonda pulls him back, allowing Shuri and her team to transfer Erik onto a bed for transport. And when Shuri moves her hands over Erik to bring up the projections of his vitals, she gasps, “Brother, the baby!”

 T’Challa feels Mama grab at his hand, holding tight. “Mama, what have I done?”

**Author's Note:**

> Just to give you the scheduled posting for the weekend:
> 
> Fri Morning - First part of a two parter
> 
> Fri Evening - Three Truths
> 
> Sat Morning - Second part of two parts
> 
> Sat Evening - Conclusion
> 
> Sunday - Epilogue
> 
> We're reaching the home stretch! It has been wonderful for me to write this. Thank you so much for your support and I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the series x
> 
> You can leave me some moodboard requests [Here](http://hardheartshere.tumblr.com/ask) or you can leave me some fic requests [Here](http://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/ask)


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